Paint roller covers of hollow, tubular core construction have long been used by professional and do-it-yourself painters to apply liquid coatings to walls and other surfaces. Typically, these covers consist of hollow, tubular core with a paint absorbent covering material, often a pile fabric, bonded to the outer surface of the core. These are designed with a tubular core so that a roller frame-handle unit of suitable design can fit inside and provide a complete paint roller applicator. Roller covers are then a replaceable element that may be easily changed without needing a new roller frame-handle unit. This permits the use of roller covers of different pile construction as desired, as well as placement for worn or soiled used covers. Virtually all paint roller applicators are commercially sold in this system; i.e.: durable roller frame-handle units, and a range of replaceable hollow, tubular core roller covers. The user selects the roller frame-handle and whichever replaceable roller covers that are desired for the projects intended.
These roller covers perform well except that they cannot paint corners. This task requires a supplementary applicator such as a brush, or a specially designed corner roller that can only paint corners.
A desirable improvement is a roller cover with one end closed and the same paint carrying covering on that end. Such design has been made commercially available in two forms.
One form has been to make a separate end plug having the paint carrying covering on the outer surface. This approach has not been widely accepted because of the costs of the special plug, the difficulty in having plugs with matching covering materials, and the complexity of fit-up and the marketing challenge of explaining the system.
A second form has proven more market acceptable, but is inherently costly to produce, does not seal the end and cannot be designed with a range of radiused configurations on the closed end. In this second form, a hollow core of thermoplastic material is covered with the paint carrying material which is suitably adhered. However, an extended length of the fabric is allowed to overhang the end of the core. In a separate operation this extended fabric is tucked into the end of the core and secured by adhesive or a plug. This does not seal the end, and the tucked fabric varies in occupied space.